Almost one in five covid app alerts sent in Brighton and Hove this year were sent in the last week of June, NHS figures show.
The number of alerts sent out each week has rocketed from low single figures in April to 4,330 from 24 to 30 June – the latest period for which figures are available.
This was also a 90% increase over the previous week, when 2,253 alerts were sent.
In the week to 30 June, 1,059 people tested positive – 637 of whom told the app.
From 3 June to 30 June, 9,271 alerts were sent out, while 1,962 people tested positive in the city – 1,216 of whom told the app.
Nat Dodd, 32, who lives in Poet’s Corner, was pinged on 29 June and told to self-isolate for .
She said: “I went out for dinner on Friday, 25 June to Erpingham House in Duke Street and two of us who were closest to one of the tables got the same alert.
“It’s not been so bad because I can work from home and my housemate was away. She’s a nurse so we’ve made sure we have enough provisions in the house in case this happened.
“I don’t mind spending time on my own but it was difficult not being able to even leave the house for a walk.
“I did lateral flow tests and they all came back negative so it was quite frustrating.”
The government today urged people not to delete the app in order to avoid being pinged.
Rules governing travel for people in England are due to be eased on July 19, but measures on self-isolation for the fully vaccinated will remain in place until August 16, raising fears that people will delete the app rather than risk having to cancel a holiday.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “You shouldn’t ignore this (the app) because it is vital information. People should want to know if they have been in contact with somebody with coronavirus.
“You don’t want to be spreading it around. It can still harm people.”
Alerts are sent to NHS Covid-19 app users who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.
In the last week of June, 91,373 checked into venues in Brighton and Hove. However, data for how many venue alerts were sent out is not available at local authority level.
In the last 7 days, there have been 1275 cases in B&H. So with 4330 alerts, that’s 3.4 close contacts per person. Which seems about right. As cases rise, so will alerts. And currently, B&H has the highest case rate in the south – only others above 400 per 100k are Bristol and the next one northwards is Birmingham.
Looks to me like the app is doing what is designed to do. Whether this is now too pessimistic that’s a good question. Perhaps there should be a higher threshold for infection for each step of vaccination?